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Melissa Yankovich has worked for the Luzerne County jail as a correctional officer for three years and been with her domestic partner for nearly two. But unlike the husbands and wives of her fellow prison guards, her partner cannot receive spousal health insurance from the county.

That's because Yankovich, 26, and her 29-year-old partner are gay. Luzerne County, like nearly all counties in Pennsylvania, does not provide benefits to same-sex partners.

"We feel like we're not equal," said Yankovich, of Exeter, "and I think everyone's equal."

One Luzerne County councilman is trying to change that. Jim Bobeck said he plans to introduce an ordinance at a council meeting this month that would grant spousal benefits to same-sex partners of county employees.

The de facto leader of the council majority said the ordinance would help attract better job candidates and make the county a more accepting and diverse place.

"We are at a competitive disadvantage in trying to get certain people to come to the county," he said. "Furthermore, I just believe from an equality standpoint it's the right thing to do."

But at Tuesday's council meeting, another large elephant needs to be tamed, and it's not the issue of gay marriage. Deeply in debt, council must balance and pass its 2014 county budget by Dec. 15, and the legislative body has targeted this week's meeting to get it done. The county manager has given council three choices - raise taxes by 8 percent, lay off more than 200 employees in a county where department and division heads already warn of understaffing, or some combination of the two. Granting the new employee benefit would no doubt add more expense to the county, though it's unclear how much. A difference of about $7,000 exists between county employee health insurance plans for individuals and married couples, said David Parsnik, head of the county's Administrative Services Division.

Bobeck, a Democrat, said while he was not optimistic of the bill's passage on the 11-member council, he wanted to start the discussion. Council members Rick Williams and Elaine Maddon Curry, an Independent and a Democrat respectively, said they would support the measure, with Maddon Curry calling it a "no-brainer." Bobeck's majority will likely be weakened in January when Maddon Curry departs and two new members - who have both suggested they will side with the minority - join council.

Plenty of council opposition currently exists though. Council members Rick Morelli and Harry Haas, both Republicans, described it as an issue that should be decided at the state level. Councilman Edward Brominski, a Democrat, called Bobeck a "bonehead" for raising the issue at a time of financial strife, while Councilman Stephen J. Urban, a Republican, said the idea was "ludicrous." The councilmen lobbed accusations that Bobeck was trying to draw attention from the budget process and toward himself to boost his own political aspirations. Brominski and Urban sit firmly on the council minority and generally oppose the agenda of the county manager and the majority.

Bobeck denied the move was due to political ambition and suggested other council members propose postponing the ordinance if they think it distracts from the budget process, a notion which drew further criticism from council members that the new benefit would add expenses to the budget after passage.

Were council to approve the ordinance, Luzerne County would become only the second county in the state to grant full benefits to same-sex spouses, according to the gay rights advocacy group Equality Pennsylvania. Allegheny County has provided the benefit since last year when county Executive Rich Fitzgerald signed an executive order granting it. Of approximately 6,300 eligible Allegheny County employees, only 14 have enrolled in the same-sex domestic partner benefit, said Amie Downs, a spokeswoman for the county.

Like Allegheny County, Bobeck's ordinance would verify same-sex domestic partnerships using things like joint bank accounts, power of attorney rights, wills and landlord leases.

Ironically, the 80,000 state employees who fall under the executive branch of government have been granted benefits for same-sex partners since 2009, despite gay marriage essentially being outlawed in Pennsylvania. The decision came from the half-management, half-union board that governs the state employee benefits fund.

About 500 of those employees have signed up for benefits for their domestic partner, though the state does not distinguish between gay and straight partnerships, said Dan Egan, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Office of Administration.

pcameron@citizensvoice.com

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